[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran said on Monday it could deliver abroad some of its low-enriched uranium to be upgraded or buy the fuel directly as Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki blasted Israel as too "weak" to carry out any attack on Tehran's nuclear sites.
Mottaki said Iran was mulling the U.N.-brokered deal which envisages shipping out Tehran's low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad to be converted into nuclear fuel and would announce a decision within days.
"For the supply of (nuclear) fuel, we may buy it like in the past or we may deliver a part of our (low-enriched uranium) fuel that we don't need now," Mottaki told the official IRNA news agency.
"Both options are on the table."
Mottaki is the most senior official to talk about buying the fuel directly since the U.N. atomic watchdog brokered a deal in Vienna which suggests shipping out Tehran's LEU abroad to be converted into fuel.
The U.N.-brokered deal was suggested first by world powers through the U.N. atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEAR), Mottaki said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also suggested this arrangement a day before Oct. 1 high-profile talks in Geneva between six world powers and Tehran about Western concerns over Iran's nuclear programme.
U.S.-backed Western powers back the U.N.-brokered deal and are keen that Iran's LEU be taken out as they suspect Tehran would process it further on its own to higher purity levels and use it to make atomic weapons. Tehran denied the charge.
France has said the deal aims to transport 1,200 kilos of Iran's LEU to Moscow to be converted into fuel. Iran is estimated to have 1,500 kilos of LEU at its uranium enrich plant in the central city of Natanz.
But the U.N.-led offer has met with tough opposition from top Tehran officials who suspect Western powers of creating obstacles for Iran's uranium enrichment drive, which they ultimately want suspended.
Enrichment of uranium is the most controversial aspect of Tehran's nuclear programme as enriched uranium can be used for generating electricity -- as Tehran claims it is doing -- or to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.
"Making a decision to choose which option is on the agenda of the Islamic republic and in the next few days the decision will be announced," Mottaki said, adding that Tehran was still "examining" the U.N.-led deal.
Mottaki also raised the possibility that Iran could actually ask to buy the fuel directly, when he told IRNA that even close ally China was welcome to provide the Islamic republic with the fuel.
"China is an important country which has the fuel production technology and if it is interested in providing fuel to Iran, Iran will welcome China's participation," he said.
He also dismissed talks that Iran was giving up its enrichment rights and said Tehran will "not give up enrichment rights as it is a member of the IAEA and signatory to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty)."
Mottaki also said Israel was too weak to attack Iran's nuclear sites.
"We consider the Zionist regime currently to be in its weakest position and we do not see it has such a capacity" to carry out a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, Mottaki said when a reporter asked him specifically about such a possibility by Israel.
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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See also WORLD NEWS > IRAN NEEDS EIGHTEEN MONTHS FOR BOMB.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Monday said bloodshed in Pakistan, Iraq and Iran was the work of foreign agents and aimed at unleashing Shia-Sunni conflict. Guess he's not dead, huh?
"The bloody actions being committed in some Islamic countries, including Iraq, Pakistan and in some parts of the country (Iran), are aimed at creating a division between the Shias and Sunnis," state television quoted him as saying. Khamenei said regional countries must beware that "those who carry out these terrorist actions are directly or indirectly foreign agents". Since last week, around 150 people have been killed in Iran while a series of deadly attacks have also swept Pakistan.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Being dead is no impediment to talking if you're an ayatollah. Or Michael Jackson.
Posted by: ed ||
10/27/2009 0:57 Comments ||
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